


Whatever Works

by kiyala



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 17:22:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8219023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyala/pseuds/kiyala
Summary: Murasakibara has super powers. Himuro does not. Their first meeting does not go very well.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [umaibo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/umaibo/gifts).



> happy birthday Andrea <3

When Atsushi first joins YOSEN, Tatsuya doesn't like him at all. 

Atsushi, brimming with super strength, is a reminder of all the things that Tatsuya is not. He reminds Tatsuya of Taiga in all the worst ways; he's a reminder of all the things Alex wanted in a pupil, and all the things Tatsuya failed to be.

He knows how superpowers work. He knows that they express themselves purely by chance, when people are in their early teens. Tatsuya doesn't have any. He never will.

It doesn't matter. Tatsuya has trained under Alex Garcia, superpowers or no. He has the physical skill. He has the elite training. Alex might have been almost as disappointed as Tatsuya when he hit his teens and didn't develop any powers, but she continued to train him anyway and now he's here, incredibly competent on his own and an asset to any team that he's on. He's confident in his place at YOSEN and nothing is going to change that.

Not even a hulking giant of a man looking down at him and summarily deciding that he's useless.

"Excuse me?" he asks, his expression blank as ever as he looks up at Atsushi. "What was that?"

"If you don't have any powers," Atsushi tells him, "I don't care why you're here. You can't do anything. You'll get in my way."

Tatsuya smiles, looking away. He isn't particularly surprised by this. The Generation of Miracles was the most successful superhero group to exist anywhere in the country, until they began to self destruct. Ever since finding out that Masako has managed to recruit one of them for YOSEN, Tatsuya has been prepared for the arrogance and dismissiveness. So far, Atsushi hasn't really disappointed him in that regard.

Tatsuya doesn't let it bother him. He knows that he's good in the field, just as he's good at preparing for a mission beforehand. Atsushi will found out or himself soon enough.

"Murasakibara," Masako addresses him at their first team meeting, her arms folded across her chest, completely unfazed by the fact that Atsushi has brought along at least five different kinds of snacks for what should be a ten minute meeting. "I don't care if you've proven yourself on other teams. You haven't seen how YOSEN work just yet. You're going to be paired with Himuro until you find a way to work yourself into our operations."

"That guy?" Atsushi rests his chin in his hand. "Don't wanna."

"Then you won't go out into the field, no matter how many people we're targeting during our mission," she replies, raising an eyebrow at Tatsuya. "Neither of you will be."

"Me too?" Tatsuya asks with a frown. "Why?"

"That's how partnerships work," Masako replies. "I thought you understood that, Himuro. You had a partner before."

Tatsuya takes a deep breath, letting the anger burn under the surface, where no one else can see it. He smiles at Masako. "I did. I do understand how this works."

Masako's relationship with Alex is like a concealed dagger; Tatsuya knows that it exists, but he can never predict when she'll use it against him. It's annoyingly effective every single time.

He was hoping to prove himself in the field and gain Atsushi's trust that way. He's going to have to figure out something else instead. He knows that this is entirely intentional on Masako's part.

He waits until the meeting is over and the rest of the team is ready to go out, then approaches Atsushi. "Spar with me."

Atsushi looks up at him and yawns loudly. "No. There's no point. Besides, Masa-chin just gave me an excuse to not have to fight. Why would I fight you?"

Tatsuya blinks. "An excuse? Is that what you think it is?"

"I hate going out and doing the superhero thing," Atsushi grumbles. "It's too much trouble going all the way out to find someone to catch when they won't even be worth my time to fight. They always try too hard and it's annoying. They should just give up when they see me. It's not like they can win anyway. Why do I have to go to all the effort of beating them?"

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Tatsuya asks incredulously. "Who the hell would give up against someone who doesn't want to fight them? That doesn't even make sense."

"Just because I don't want to do it," Atsushi sighs, "that doesn't mean I won't. No one is going to get past me. I'm not going to lose to anyone."

"I don't know," Tatsuya hums. "Being so lazy that you don't even want to go out into the field and fight… even if you're not actually losing any fights, aren't you losing to every single person who is fighting and catching criminals instead of you?"

Atsushi goes still, his attention captured. Tatsuya barely keeps the smile off his face.

"I mean, you're new to the team," Tatsuya tells him. "Out of everyone in YOSEN, I have the highest count of criminals captured. You're on zero. I can afford to be kept out of the field for a while and my count will still remain in first position but right now, you're coming last. You're not just losing to me, you're losing to everyone."

Atsushi scowls at him. "But right now, you're partnered up with me. Your individual count doesn't matter."

"Okay," Tatsuya agrees, "but that doesn't change the fact that you're losing to everybody else."

"You're so annoying," Atsushi complains. "Why can't you just leave me alone? Hurry up and get your suit on so we can beat everyone else."

Tatsuya smiles, leading the way to the large room that stores all of their suits and weapons. "If you say so."

The suit that Tatsuya likes to fight in is body-hugging and made of light, flexible, black material with the signature pink of YOSEN panelled across his sides. He has plenty of holsters for his weapons, keeping them in easy reach. He might not have any powers, but he's good at matching the right kind of weapon to the situation. 

Atsushi's suit is a mix of black and purple. It's heavily armoured but he doesn't have any weapons. Taking is super strength into consideration, Tatsuya thinks bitterly, he doesn't really need much else.

"What's your code name anyway?" Tatsuya asks, checking the security of their headquarters on their way to the garage, to their motorbikes.

"Purple."

"Purple…?" Tatsuya turns to Atsushi, blinking. "That's it? Purple?"

"Do you have a problem with it?"

"You're not a very subtle person, are you?" Tatsuya asks, smiling. He looks Atsushi up and down. "I guess you don't have much of a chance of that anyway."

"What about you?" Atsushi asks. "What's your code name?"

"Ice Dragon." 

Atsushi snorts. 

"What?" Tatsuya asks, bristling.

"Doesn't that sound too fancy?" Atsushi asks. "Like you're trying too hard?"

"It's better than not trying at all," Tatsuya mutters. He gets onto his motorbike, starting the engine. "Stay behind me, okay? I'm the senior member in our team."

"If you go too slowly, I'll run you over."

Tatsuya shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. Any other member of the Generation of Miracles would be better than this, he's pretty sure. "Our objective for this mission is—"

"—To get to the scene and capture all the criminals before anyone else can," Atsushi cuts in. "So we have the highest count and beat everyone."

Tatsuya would pinch the bridge of his nose if he wasn't concerned that it would make his mask fall off. "Sure. Let's start with that. Turn your communicator on. I have a plan. I'll explain it to you while we're on our way."

He might not be the only good tactician on the team, but Tatsuya knows how his teammates work well enough to come up with a way that he and Atsushi can beat them. He doesn't know if this is what Masako intended when she paired them up together, but he supposes that this is a different way of proving himself too. 

They split up as they approach the headquarters of the criminal organisation they're targeting, to work from either end and meet in the middle. Tatsuya sends an alert to the rest of his team to let them know as he approaches, to avoid friendly fire. Atsushi doesn't concern himself with it. He's incredibly eager to fight, for someone who was talking about how pointless it is. 

"Himuro," Masako says into his earpiece, as Atsushi fights his way through two rooms. "What are you up to?"

"It's a long story," Tatsuya replies with a grin. "But you might want to make up some numbers for how many times each team member has captured a criminal, because Murasakibara is going to ask about it later."

"I don't think I want to know why," Masako sighs, "but okay."

"Also, I'm sorry but we're taking over this mission," Tatsuya tells her. "I've figured out how to make Atsushi work." 

"That was quick," Masako remarks. "Before I took him onto the team, he only person he would listen to was Akashi, the leader of the Generation of Miracles."

"Don't tell me that Murasakibara Atsushi is just an incredibly convoluted test of my abilities," Tatsuya snorts. He stops talking to fight the room full of thugs that try to ambush him, leaving them lying unconscious behind him. "But either way, let me show you what we can do."

From what Tatsuya can tell, everything is going according to plan. He's taken the rooms towards the back of the hideout and Atsushi is barrelling his way through the front. He switches his communication channel. "Hey, Atsushi. I'm setting an additional challenge for us. Let's think of this as a game. Each person we stop counts as a point for our team. Every person someone else stops counts as a point for the rest of YOSEN."

"Zero points for them," Atsushi finishes, and Tatsuya laughs.

"Exactly. Do you think we can do it?"

Atsushi doesn't reply. 

Instead, Atsushi shows him. It takes less than ten minutes for the entire building to be seized. The rest of YOSEN are still standing outside the building, too stunned to move. 

"Did you even listen to the brief?" Liu asks, frowning at them both. "We were meant to wait outside until we could determine that the coast was clear."

"The coast is clear," Atsushi says, gesturing to the headquarters behind them. "You can go, if you want."

Tatsuya hides his smile behind his hand, pretending that he's just wiping sweat off his face. Here, he'd been thinking that it would take him a bit longer to warm up to Atsushi. 

"Come on, Muro-chin," Atsushi says, leading the way back to their motorbikes. "We can celebrate with ice cream. You're buying it, okay?" 

"Only after we've changed out of our suits," Tatsuya replies, trying not to sound too pleased. Apparently, they're both warming up to each other just as quickly.

He expects Atsushi to argue, but they both return back to the YOSEN headquarters, leaving their bikes in the garage. 

Tatsuya is putting his weapons back into their places in the armoury when Atsushi looks at him, humming in thought.

"How do you get out of that suit anyway?"

Tatsuya looks at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Not that I actually want to know," Atsushi adds hastily. "I'm not thinking about getting you out of your suit." 

Tatsuya raises his eyebrow higher. 

"I'm not thinking about you without your suit on." 

"Would you like to keep digging?" Tatsuya asks with a smile, then turns around. "Here. Help me undo the zipper." 

It takes every ounce of self control to keep a straight face. It's absolutely worth it though, for the strangled noise Atsushi makes as he undoes the zipper for him. 

"You're not subtle at all, are you?" Tatsuya asks, picking up the clothes he was wearing before and heading to one of the change rooms. 

"Shut up," Atsushi retorts. "You're too pretty."

Tatsuya shuts the change room door behind him, free to smile to himself when nobody else can see. Atsushi makes another noise of embarrassment. 

"I'm going to enjoy working with you, Atsushi," Tatsuya calls out. As much as he says it to embarrass Atsushi, he means it. He's looking forward to what they can do together. 

"You're pretty useful, even if you don't have powers," Atsushi replies. "Let's crush everyone together."

"I don't think that this is how it's meant to work," Tatsuya hums, but then grins to himself. "But sure. Whatever works."


End file.
